Fremantle deserves their favouritism on several fronts when they host Sydney in their first home preliminary final on Saturday night. Having won 16 of their past 17 clashes at Patersons Stadium is just one reason why.

While most of the hype surrounding the Dockers this week will be around the usual list of stars, it's their second tier of youngsters that Swans coach John Longmire will be spending extra time preparing for.

He will already have plans in place to curb the influence of damaging midfielders Nat Fyfe, David Mundy and Michael Barlow, while a tagger may get the early heads-up that he will be watching ball-carrier Stephen Hill.

A good whack of time also will be spent looking at ways to keep speedy goalsneaks Michael Walters and Hayden Ballantyne under control - then there are veterans Luke McPharlin, Matthew Pavlich and Aaron Sandilands to consider.

Advertisement

But the Dockers' qualifying final win over Geelong gave a true insight into their success this season, and their home ground advantage is not the only reason Ross Lyon is one win away from taking his club to a historic first grand final appearance - it's also the depth in their player list.

With Clancee Pearce and Garrick Ibbotson sidelined, it was the defensive performances of two young South Australians that stood out against the Cats. Lee Spurr was playing just his 34th game and Cam Sutcliffe his 21st, but their cool heads in defence, taking a dozen marks between them deep inside the Cats' defence, was decisive in the result.

Those performances could make life tough for Lyon and the match committee at the selection table this week if Pearce and Ibbotson are cleared to play.

Fremantle are not doing too badly from their South Australian recruits. Former Port Adelaide midfielder Danyle Pearce has added some extra zip to the Dockers' running brigade. And captain Pavlich is a genuine superstar of the competition. Although he has struggled with fitness this year, he remains a massive key during these finals - especially considering his chances of a premiership are running out.

But the recent performances of Lachie Neale will be taking up extra time in Longmire's preparation. Neale, 20, had 21 possessions against the Cats last weekend and trailed only Fyfe (7) and Mundy (7) for the most number of clearances (6) - from both teams. As far as numbers go, it wasn't his best effort. Ignoring the Dockers' loss to St Kilda in round 23, Neale averaged 26 possessions in the previous six games.

But it's never been about numbers at the Dockers.

''He knows that if he looks at the numbers that he will be entering dangerous territory,'' Dockers assistant and development coach Simon Lloyd said. ''He's only in the infancy of his career, and he knows he's fighting for his position in the team. But he's obviously performing well. The old adage comes to mind, though: it comes with hard work.''

Lloyd said Neale took every opportunity to tap into the knowledge of the talented midfield group at the Dockers.

Neale has played 21 games in two seasons since being taken at No. 58 in the 2011 national draft from Glenelg in the SANFL. But if not for a severe ankle injury, he could quite easily have another 20 games under his belt.

Former Fremantle and West Coast defender Greg Harding has been coaching Neale in the WAFL, at Swan Districts, and has seen him develop this season.

He played seven games with the Swans this year and Harding says he has seen enough to suggest Neale has the ability to become one of Fremantle's elite midfielders.

''What he offers already at an elite level is that he can go to a stoppage and win the footy and then exit the stoppage cleanly,'' Harding said. ''Others can win it and then they hack it forward. But what Lachie does is win it, he stays composed and links up, especially well by hand.

''When Lachie Neale wins the ball from a stoppage, his team usually ends up with the ball inside their attacking 50. He'll usually get it at half-back, release one of the midfielders, who can then look into attack.

''His major strength, though, is that he is really neat. He brings great skills to the table, especially with a 35- to 40-metre hit-up. In time, he will become an A-grade midfielder. With another pre-season under his belt, he'll start challenging the likes of Mundy and Barlow as the number one or two midfielders at the Dockers.''

At present only that pair and Fyfe lead Neale at the Dockers for the highest number of possessions this season on average per game.

4 comments so far

Well the particular 'talents' of Ballantyne and Crowley are noted by the supporters of every other club.

Freo deserves its favouritism based on form but hopefully there's another team in the race that can ensure class triumphs over the cynical brand of footy that Ross Lyon seems to thrive on. Won't be the Swans I imagine but I'll enjoy it even more if the Dockers lose the GF.

Commenter

jaro

Location

sydney

Date and time

September 16, 2013, 8:34AM

What's Crowley done wrong exactly? I imagine the main reason why everyone hates him so much is because he always shuts down who he tags (Apart from Hanneberry). Plays within the rules and I honestly think the reason everyone kicks up a storm is because the teams best player gets tagged out, effectively hitting the ego of the supporters themselves. How about? Crowley is just a really great tagger and shouldn't be labelled a villian as a result.

Ballantyne on the other hand is full of grubby tactics, Crowley most certainly is not in the same vein however..

Commenter

Haris

Location

Perth

Date and time

September 16, 2013, 2:09PM

Yeah, I don't think you can mention Ballantyne and Crowley together like that. Putting a camera on Ballantyne will give his critics heaps of ammo.... putting a camera on Crowley makes his critics either look stupid or become fans of the guy.

Commenter

mark

Date and time

September 17, 2013, 5:41AM

Footy Journos need to print out the phrase "inexperienced and young are not the same thing". Lee Spurr is no youngster at 26 years of age.